75% Of US Corn Harvest Still In Field - 29% Is Normal For This Time Of Year - Quality Sliding

[hatrack]

US Commodities, the Iowa-based broker, has already warned that "crop quality will be a big concern this winter"."It is now a concern on how many bushels of #3 corn will hit the market," the broker added, referring to lower grade corn fit only for animal, rather than human, use.

Many crops are coming in light on so-called "test weights" – the actual weight of the crop per bushel of volume, and which can vary to between 45-60 pounds per bushel. Low test-weights signal a weaker protein composition in the grain, and higher concentration of starch, and are typical of crops that have not matured entirely. Higher moisture levels in damper crops are also a concern, limiting how much crop can be pushed through limited drier capacity.

US farmers managed to harvest only a further 5% of their corn crops in the week to Sunday, leaving 75% in the field. Typically, just 29% of corn is still left to be harvested by now. In North Dakota, where the harvest is usually half complete, just 2% of corn was in the silo – the same as the week before – meaning any progress was too limited to show up in the results.

In some states, the slow progress in corn has represented in part an emphasis on soybeans, viewed as a more vulnerable crop, during breaks in the cloud.

EDIT

http://www.agrimoney.com/news/us-corn-and-soybean-condition-falls-to-season-low--930.html

[Flaneur]

1. Yeah, central South Dakota farmers are crying.

The summer was too cool, not enough "heat units" for the corn to mature properly.

And, man, there is mile after mile of it up there.

[krispos42]

2. The farmers are just starting to harvest the corn here in Minnesota

I would guess that the wet October forced them to keep it out longer than usual. They have to pay to get the corn dried for storage, I understand, and I bet that's the reason they left it out.

However, it's finally drying out and is suppose to be clear and sunny the rest of the week.

Sunday night while driving to Albert Lea I saw farmers harvesting in the dark, using the lights on their combines and such. Looks like they're kicking into high gear.

[Sal Minella]

6. The machinery for harvesting is so big now that I would expect

it to get mired in the mud if the fields are too wet. This in addition to trying to avoid the expense and nuisance of drying the corn.

Minnesota Public Radio weatherman said this was the second wettest October since they've been keeping records (twenty days of rain) -- the only October wetter than this one was in 1881, he said.

The lights moving in the fields after dark always make me expect to see a pale little alien form step up onto the asphalt and raise a flipper signaling "Stop."

[excess_3]

3. late spring - early fall, , obvious proof of global warming .nt

[hatrack]

4. How about "Increasingly unpredictable, fucked-up weather making farming harder than it already is"?

Not quite as snappy and snarky as your oh-so-predictable post, but that's life, I suppose . . .

[pscot]

5. Should make for great pheasant hunting

The birds love standing corn.

[Nihil]

7. And, for the sake of energy efficiency, ...

... instead of playing with silly guns and things, harvesting at night
should mean that corn-fed pheasant are ready sliced & diced in a nice
wholegrain package!

Win-win!